October Meteor Showers

Though the peak activity of the Perseid meteor shower back on the morning of August 12 was clouded out, I hope you took advantage of the clear skies the following morning to catch a few shooting stars.

From 3:00 until 4:00 am, with some slightly hazy but clear skies, I counted 14 Perseids and one sporadic (not associated with the Perseid shower). Many were yellow in color and at least as bright as the brighter stars that were visible. And quite a few left dust trails as they disintegrated in our atmosphere. Not bad for the day after peak. The one day past peak number of 15 is what one would expect of the Perseids. Fortunately the activity was sufficient to prevent me from falling asleep!

October provides us with both a minor and a major meteor shower to satisfy the shooting star enthusiasts among us.

On the evening of October 8 keep your eyes toward the northern sky for a few shooting stars of the Draconid meteor shower. The meteors will appear to radiate from the constellation Draco. Locate the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) and you'll be looking in the right direction.

The Draconids are a minor shower, so expect no more than ten meteors per hour. Also, the just past first quarter Moon will be somewhat of a hindrance until it sets around midnight. However, it will traverse a low arc across your sky to the south, and you'll be looking in the opposite direction. Try to block out the Moon's direct light with a building. The Draconids are fairly slow moving meteors, hitting our atmosphere at only 12.5 miles per second.

Our second meteor shower of October is a major display of shooting stars, the Orionids. On the night of October 20-21, these remnants of Halley's Comet intercept the Earth's orbit nearly head- on at 41.6 miles per second. These fast meteors appear to radiate from Orion, the mighty hunter.

This meteor shower is often best observed between midnight and dawn, but the last quarter Moon will rise around midnight in neighboring constellation Gemini, and will therefore reduce the number of meteors that could be seen under better conditions. You'll want to train your gaze at an area of sky well away from the bright Moon's influence.

One could begin to observe before moon rise, but Orion completely rises above the east-south-east horizon about the same time the Moon does in the east-north-east, so the moonlight is going to be the controlling factor here. As Orion rises higher into the sky, so will the Moon. At approximately 3:30 am Orion will be due south of your location and about halfway up off the southern horizon. Typically the Orionids produce about 15-20 yellow and green meteors per hour during peak, but with the interfering moonlight a keen-eyed observer may see about a dozen. They are also noted for producing fireballs that create persistent dust trains high in the atmosphere. You may get lucky and see a few of the brighter meteors as they disintegrate.

With the Moon in the vicinity of Orion, it will be a challenge to try to block its moonlight without losing sight of some of the meteors. Still, if the weather cooperates I would give the Orionids a try. The next few meteor showers will occur under much cooler temperatures.

When you are not meteor observing there are two local observatories you can visit to explore the beauty of the universe. Ladd Observatory, on the corner of Hope Street and Doyle Avenue on Providence's East Side, is open every clear Tuesday night. Admission is free. More information, including open times and directions, can be found at Ladd's website: www.brown.edu/ladd.

Seagrave Observatory, home of Skyscrapers, Inc., The Amateur Astronomical Society of Rhode Island, is open to the public every clear Saturday night (except October 4). Admission is also free. Check our web site at www.theskyscrapers.org for further information, and always keep your eyes to the skies.